NEW DELHI : The virus has affected us all. The economic, physical, mental and emotional toll of covid-19 may vary in degree, but the experience of it has been similar across the world.
In the Himalayan region, a climate change hotspot, residents have been especially hard hit by the pandemic because mountain communities have limited livelihood options, inherited vulnerabilities resulting from inaccessibility, and high dependency on plains and cross-border trade for sustenance.The Intergovernmental International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal recently published a policy paper, ‘COVID-19 Impact and Policy Responses in the Hindu Kush Himalaya’.